In advance of the Mendel Art Gallery closure on June 7, 2015, the owner-operator of Museo, the café at the Mendel, has decided to cease operations February 28. Museo has been very popular with gallery visitors and staff for the past eight years, and will be missed. Devotees will be happy to visit Museo’s other location, at 730 Broadway Avenue. Meanwhile, coffee and food service will be offered by a local catering company, Made With Love, from March 7 to June 7. Further details, including the hours of operation, will be announced soon. The gallery apologizes in advance for any inconvenience to visitors during the week that café service will be unavailable.

Congratulations to Herb McFaull and Anthony Bidulka, named Citizens of the Year by CTV News Saskatoon on December 31, 2014. The husbands are being honoured for their combined and individual community work, including McFaull’s current involvement with the Remai Modern Art Gallery of Saskatchewan, as chair of the fundraising cabinet.

Among their accomplishments is bringing Camp fYrefly to Saskatchewan. This annual, four-day leadership retreat supports sexual and gender minority youth. The Saskatchewan camp, based on one that began at the University of Alberta, has been operating each summer since 2008. Both men have also volunteered with numerous other community organizations, including Persephone Theatre, the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, and Royal University Hospital Foundation.

In announcing the award, David Fisher, Vice-President and General Manager, CTV Saskatchewan, said of McFaull and Bidulka: “They represent the best in our citizenry, and have had a profound influence on improving the quality of life for residents across the region.”

CTV has presented the award for 48 years. This is the first time the award has been given to a “second generation” Citizen of the Year. McFaull’s father, Jack, was the 1979 recipient.

This e-publication documents the exhibition Rewilding Modernity, presented in the fall of 2013 at the Mendel Art Gallery. Essays by curator Lisa Baldissera and New York art critic, poet and editor Barry Schwabsky examine contemporary art and the unique history of modernity in Saskatchewan and internationally. Among the artists represented in the exhibition are: Polly Apfelbaum, Bob Boyer, Robert Christie, Wally Dion, Mina Forsyth, Roy Kiyooka, Kenneth Lochhead, Jules Olitski, William Perehudoff, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Robert Youds.